


The Heart Of Everything

by paraflymore



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Modern AU, Modern Westeros, Slow Burn AF, angsty twenty-something Sansa, jonsa, single dad Jon Snow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-04-06 03:18:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19054171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paraflymore/pseuds/paraflymore
Summary: Jon has no idea what it is about her, whether its the way she smiles at him or the sweet way she is with his daughter, but suddenly he finds himself falling for his best friend’s little sister. And Sansa is completely unsure about everything going on in her life lately, everything that is but him.





	1. Home

He'd be lying of he said being a single dad was easy, with his wild and sassy little girl who he swears looks just like her mother some times. All except for those big brown eyes, those were all him.

Raina Grace Snow came into the world and Jon knew from the first moment he laid eyes on her that she was going to have a hold of his heart like no one else.

The past three years had been hard on him. After Dany left him just a few months after their daughter had been born Jon had been thrust into being a single parent. It was a situation he never thought he’d be in but he wasn’t completely alone. He had his good friend Sam, and his wife Gilly’s help. Raina loved spending time with them and playing with their son little Sam. But they had recently found out they were having another baby, and Jon had been sitting on this offer from Robb for some time.

It just seemed like the perfect time to finally take it.

Jon was apprehensive, not just because he worried Dany might come back, but because everything his little girl knew was there in Old Town. He felt guilty taking her away from it all.

The Starks were a surrogate family to him, all of those years he and Robb were in school together he had practically lived at their house. He knew they would all help him with Raina, and his little girl would learn to love these people like he did.

It was foolish to pass up an offer like this. A well paying job and a house and childcare, so he took the leap and here he is traveling across the country with a three year old.

Yup. He had officially lost his mind.

“Bubble Guppies.” Raina yells from the back seat. Jon looks in the rear view mirror and sees her little cherub face red and blotchy from her fit. “Fix it daddy, fix it.”

Jon sighs, reaching back with one hand to take the iPod from her. Raina was a handful, even on a good day, but after a flight to Moat Cailin and a four hour car ride, he really couldn’t ask much more from her.

He had honestly expected the tantrum way before now.

The hotspot from his phone must have ran out of data, and he's trying to make this godforsaken cartoon work before his daughter has a heart attack over it.

“Bubble Guppies, bubble guppies!” She’s full on screaming now and Jon can hear the frustration in her little voice.

“I'm tryin’ sweetheart.” Jon says, biting back the anger in his voice. He had to remind himself a lot of the time that she was just a child and it wasn't her fault that she inherited both of her parents tempers.

“Hurry. Up. Daddy.”

Jon sighs again, this time opening the app on his phone and handing it back to her, hoping it would suffice until he got somewhere with WiFi.

Raina lets out a dramatic sigh, he could still hear the tears in her throat as she laughed at the cartoon now playing on his phone.

He takes a deep breath, focusing on the road.

Jon wanted nothing more than to find the person who created Bubble Guppies and punch them right in the face.

Not long after the meltdown, Raina drifts slowly off to sleep and Jon lets out a relieved sigh.

Crisis averted.

He would even endure the cartoon playing loudly in his backseat if it meant keeping his daughter content for the rest of the way to Wintertown.

It wouldn't be much longer now. They were almost to Wintertown. Jon was surprised how everything seemed to be almost exactly the same as it was when he left five years ago for school. He hadn’t been back up North since before Raina was born.

Dany hated the North, and he did whatever she wanted.

He really was in love with her, and some times he thinks he still is. When she first left, Jon spent days trying to piece together what had gone wrong. But he never came up with anything other than Dany was just selfish. She always had been, but Jon had never seen her more so than the day she left him with their three month old daughter.

She said she needed to find herself, which made Jon wonder who it was he had been with for all that time. Was it even the real Dany? Was she just playing pretend the whole time?

Its questions like this that plagued his mind since she had been gone, and they are questions he’s sure would always be unanswered.

But he did not want to ponder over them, not today.

Today will be a good day, he promises himself.

He looks back over his shoulder at the still soundly sleeping little girl, her blond hair falling in her face, he tried his hardest to keep it fixed neatly but that was a loosing battle all its own. Jon just smirks as he makes his way up the long driveway towards the only home he ever really knew.

He parks his car and takes a deep breath, readying himself for getting the sleeping little girl out of her seat.

Jon opens his car door, just as the front door of the Stark’s estate opens and Robb comes walking out, smiling ear to ear like he had been standing there waiting on him.

It had been a long time since he saw Robb Stark but he looked exactly the same. His auburn curls may be a little shorter and more kept. But everything else was the same.

It was comforting.

“Snow, it’s good to see you.” He says, making his way down the driveway.

“You too, Stark.”

The two men share a quick hug and the turn their attention to the little girl in the backseat.

“She sure is cute.” Robb says, smiling as Jon opens the door and starts undoing her buckle.

“Don’t that fool you, she’s hell on wheels.”

Robb guffaws, “like her father then?”

He chuckles, leaning over to lift her out of the car seat. Her little hands immediately wrap around his neck. It never gets old, her holding onto him like this.

“Could you grab that pink bag for me?” He asks, “and the stuffed unicorn?”

“Pink bag, check. Unicorn, check.” Robb ticks off, smirking at him as if he’s amused.

He’s never really seen him in full dad mode. Jon’s sure it must be strange for him and slightly amusing.

“My mother is going to flip when she sees this little one.” Robb tells him as he pushes open the front door. “Almost makes me want to talk Talisa into having one.”

“Why, you can borrow mine any time you’d like.”

Robb laughs and the two of them walk into the house.

Raina stirs in his arms and raises her head and looks around. When she sees she is in an unfamiliar place she buries her face back into his shirt and whines a little.

“It’s okay sweetheart.” Jon coos, “we’re finally in Wintertown.”

She raises her face and looks at him with wide eyes. “Want my juice, daddy.”

He kisses her cheek, following Robb into the kitchen. He can smell something cooking in the oven and his mouth begins to water.

Robb sits the bag on the counter and Jon takes her pink sippy cup from the side pocket and presents it to her like a prize.

“Thank you.” She says in a sweet voice.

Robb smiles, looking between the two of them. “Fatherhood suits you Snow.”

Jon smiles, “Thanks, man.”

His friend pats him on the back and waves at the little girl. “Hello little one, I’m your uncle Robb.”

She smiles shyly up at him. “Hi.”

“I’m so glad you came to visit, I have a present for you, if your daddy says it’s okay.”

Her brown eyes double in size and she gasps, looking at Jon as she pops her cup from her mouth.

“For me daddy?”

Jon smiles and looks at Robb. “You didn’t have to get her anything.”

“Of course I did.” He laughs, “shall we go and see?”

Raina nods. “Can I go daddy?”

Jon picks her up and sits her on her feet and Robb extends his hand to her. She looks at it apprehensively for a moment, but ends up wrapping her entire hand around his finger.

Robb melts and Jon knows the look well. He’s sure his face constantly looks that way when dealing with his daughter.

He follows them to the living room, Robb flips on a light and there are three large boxes wrapped in pink polka dot paper sitting there.

Raina gasps, letting go of Robb’s hand and abandoning her cup on the ground to check out her loot.

“Come on Robb this is too much…” Jon says, scooping the cup up from the floor.

“Nonsense.” He waves him off. “Although, Sansa may have gotten carried away on the clothes...” he muses, rubbing his chin.

Jon shakes his head and his friend goes to help his daughter open her gifts.

The first box is a huge dollhouse that he’s sure is going to be a pain to put together.

Raina’s eyes light up, she looks up at her father and then at Robb.

“What do you say Raina?” He prompts. He had been working on her manners with her

“Oh, thank you Uncle Robb.” She says, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

Robb smiles, looking up at him and mouthing the words “oh my gods.”

Jon only smiles. Robb had been worried that the little girl wouldn’t take up to him, which might be why he felt the need to shower her with gifts. He had been going on and on about it when Jon had talked to him earlier that day. But he’s fairly certain that she would have ended up loving him, with or without the expensive dollhouse.

“You do realize you’re helping me put that together, yeah?” Jon asks, sitting on the couch and watching as Raina moves onto the next box.

Robb brushes him off. “How hard could it be really?”

Jon chuckles. He lays back on the couch and lets out a breath. It felt good to relax, the traveling had done a number on not only his body but his mind too.

It was countless hours of Bubble Guppies and questions from a three year old which consists of mostly things he has absolutely no answer for. Like why the sky was blue.

He could fall asleep right here on this couch.

“Daddy!” Raina exclaims. When Jon opens up his eyes his little girl is holding up a teal colored dress with a mermaid sewn into it. “It’s my fave-oh-wit!”

Jon smiles. “It sure is sweetheart.”

“I love it.” She says, sitting it onto a pile of clothes already on the floor.

Jon sighs eyeing the pile with disdain. It was a lot of pastels and brightly colored items that make his eyes hurt a little. His own wardrobe consisted of mostly black and he had no idea how to dress a little girl. Gilly usually helped him, he was glad he still had someone to help in that department.

“I be a princess.” She says, looking at Robb seriously as she holds up a purple dress. “You be prince charming.”

Robb nods, taking his new roll as a prince very seriously. He holds his hand out to her and bows his head. “Yes my lady.”

Raina laughs a heartfelt laugh and it cements this whole thing for Jon. His girl was happy, that was all that mattered.

“Oh my goodness.” He hears from behind him. “She’s even cuter in person.”

Jon turns to smile at Catelyn Stark. She has a laundry basket on her hip and an old gray T-shirt on from Wintertown Academy where all her children attended.

Her smile widens when she sees him, and Jon stands up to give her a hug.

Catelyn Stark was the mother he never had. She had always been kind to him.

She squeezes him tightly. “I’m so glad you made it!” She exclaims. “I’m making your favorite, pork roast with all the fixings.”

Jon smiles. “Thank you, You really didn’t have to go to all that trouble.”

She waves her hand at him. “Oh hush, you know I love to cook.” She looks at the basket of clothes and wrinkles her nose. “No matter how many times I do a sixteen year old boys laundry I can’t ever get used to the smell.”

Jon laughs. “Need any help?”

She pats his chest. “Nope, I got it covered. Let me throw these in the wash and then I’ll come back and visit.” She says, walking off towards the laundry room.

Jon nods, turning his attention back into the living room. Robb is on all fours and Raina has climbed onto his back. “You have to fly, like a dragon,” She tells Robb assertively.

Robb laughs, lifting her up a little further on his back and holding her there as he rises up. He keeps one arm around her to keep her in place and zooms around the living room, trying his best to make dragon sounds.

Jon laughs, shaking his head.

“Yay, uncle Robb!”

Jon plops back on the couch and settles in, enjoying his daughter’s laughter and watching his best friend sweat.

Things seemed to be going absolutely perfect. He was absolutely relaxed and then…

Sansa Stark came down the stairs.

His best friend’s little sister, who they used to chase around and try to scare. Who they laughed at when little Arya would embarrass her by quoting directly from her diary.

Last time he saw her she had been a girl, and now, he was looking at a woman.

She was wearing a sleek black dress and her long copper hair had been straightened to sleek perfection. It fell over her shoulder like silk. She was focused on her phone, carrying her small metallic handbag and a pair of matching heels.

As she ascends the stairs and makes her way into the living room she looks up, smiling at him casually. “Hello, Jon Snow.”

“Hello.” He says, trying to keep his voice steady.

Robb tosses Raina on the couch, and he notices she has slipped a bright pink tutu over her striped leggings. She stands up, looking over the back of the couch at Sansa with her mouth open.

“You're pretty.” She tells her, her voice full of awe.

Sansa smiles, “so are you little one.” She leans down so she’s eyes level with the toddler. “I’m Sansa, I’m so happy to meet you.”

“Are you a princess?” The little girl asks.

Sansa laughs sheepishly. “I wish I was sweetling.”

Raina smiles a cheeky smile.

“I see you opened your gifts. I helped Uncle Robb pick out all of your clothes, I hope you like them.”

The little girl nods her head, sending her blond curls into her eyes. “I love them so much.”

Jon watches the two of them interacting and he can’t help but smile.

“Where are you heading dressed like that?” Robb asks, sounding out of breath.

Sansa rolls her eyes. “I have a date, mom set me up again.” Her blue eyes flick to his and Jon can’t help but offer her a smile.

“She’s dead set on marrying me off so she doesn’t have to deal with me anymore.” She explains, looking at him with a teasing smirk.

Catelyn comes walking into the room, eyeing her. “Oh hush, you know I only want you to be happy my darling.”

Sansa yawns. “Of course.”

Catelyn pinches her arm playfully, and gives her outfit a once over. “Might want to wear a shawl, your father will have a stroke if he sees you leave the house in that dress.”

Sansa smiles, walking off towards the stairs and opening the closet. Jon notices as she leaves that the entire back of the dress is completely cut out, revealing her ivory colored skin.

Jon shakes the thoughts away and turns his attention to his daughter. He wasn’t here to check out girls, let alone Sansa Stark.

She was completely off limits even if she had become a beautiful young woman who he couldn’t keep his eyes off of.

“The others should be here soon, I just got a text from Bran.” Robb says from the floor. “Everyone is really excited to see you man.”

“I can’t wait.” He says, as Raina settles on his lap.

Catelyn smiles at her sweetly. “My gods, she does look so much like you.”

He smiles, it was a rare occasion when people told him that, and Jon always enjoyed it. She definitely had those Targaryen genes but he could see himself in her at times. Mostly when she got mad.

She was his entire world and he felt a sense of pride for her that encompassed everything else.

He didn’t need much else but her smiling face to get him though the day, but he will admit he did missed having a partner. It was simple human nature wanting another person to share your life with. Even if he did feel a little foolish sometimes for thinking it, Jon reminded himself that it was okay to want someone.

Maybe one day he could find it, but until then Raina was the only girl in his life.

 


	2. Old Habits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told y’all I had chapters for days over here! Haha enjoy ;)

She had to give it to her mother, Dickon Tarly was definitely handsome. With his square jaw and his towering height. If that wasn’t enough to woo her his dark blue eyes were. He had an air of sophistication about him, with the tailored suit he was wearing and the Rolex watch on his wrist. His family was well known, and all around he was a good match for her.

But he was dull.

And she was bored out of her skull listening to him talk.

She nods at the appropriate times, even adds in a few really’s and that’s so interesting’s to keep things flowing.

It wasn’t her first blind date, nor would it be her last if her mother had anything to say about it. She had made it her personal mission to set Sansa up with the perfect man she could settle down with.

But, Sansa is beginning to think that the perfect man didn’t exist. Least not for her.

“You just graduated from KU? Right?” Dickon asks, picking at the food on his plate.

Sansa nods. “Yes.”

“Your mother you work as an interior designer.”

She picks up her glass of wine and takes a long sip of the sweet Dornish wine. “My brother flips houses and I just help him set things up when he’s ready to sell.”

Dickon nods. “I’ve heard some good things about Stark Homes.”

Sansa takes another drink of wine. She had been helping Robb with houses for a year or so now and she really did enjoy it. She just wouldn’t call herself an interior designer. She mostly answered his phones and helped him with payroll. It wasn’t as glamorous as she’s sure he’s thinking it was. And it surely wasn’t she saw herself doing for the rest of her life.

But she doesn’t bother telling him this,  she can tell that he is just as bored with her as she is with him.

She smiles, pleased with this development.

Dickon’s eyes scan over her. He’s thinking hard about something and Sansa hopes he isn’t going to start talking again.

She doesn’t think she can sit through another spiel about his job or a boring antidote from his childhood.

“I hate to cut tonight so short but I promised my little brother I would help him tonight.” Sana’a finally days.

Dickon nods, reaching for his napkin and wiping his mouth. “I understand.” He says after a beat. “Maybe we can do this again some time?” He waves down the waiter to get the check and Sansa takes the napkin from her lap and sits it over her plate.

“Sure.” She says, but she doesn’t mean it. Not even a little bit.

The car ride back to her parents seems to last forever. The awkwardness has set it and it is making time drag by.

She wishes she wouldn’t have had him pick her up, these things always worked better when she took her own car or got and Uber. Now she was stuck in his tiny sports car for half an hour.

“Well, Sansa. I really did enjoy your company tonight.” He tells her as he puts his car in park at the end of the driveway.

“Thanks, you too Dickon.” She cringes, thanking the Gods that she hadn’t had a good time and didn’t have to say that name for any extended amount of time.

She almost giggles thinking about calling it out in the throes of passion.

Dickon.

Who the hell names their son Dickon?

She reaches for the door handle and pushes the car door open. He offers her a little wave as she steps out onto the concrete.

Sansa waves back and shuts the door. She doesn’t wait for him to pull off before she takes off her heels and jog towards the front door.

She was so thankful that nightmare was over.

As she opens the front door she can hear a chorus of voices from the living room. Her entire family had come for dinner. A welcome home dinner for Jon and his adorable daughter Raina.

She had been pleased to see him before she left. Pleased that he looked exactly the same and yet more handsome somehow. She had always thought Jon was cute. As little sister’s some times do with their older brother’s friends. It was always innocent and completely one sided.

Yet she could of sworn she saw him checking her out in this dress.

“Sansa?” Her mother calls, drawing her into the living room where the entirety of the Stark family and their significant others were all sitting on the huge sectional sofa. Robb and Talisa, were at one end and then her youngest brother Rickon. Her other younger brother Bran and his girlfriend Meera are next to him, looking at something on his phone and not paying her much attention. Her sister Arya and her boyfriend Gendry, who were a new thing around here but something they all expected to happen eventually. Her mother and father were sitting close together, smiling at the little blond haired girl who was sitting on her father’s lap and talking animatedly about something.

Jon’s eyes met hers and he smiles. One of those little shy little smirks that he gives people, a lopsided thing that made her heart skip a beat.

Damn did he have to be so cute?

“Hello Sansa!” Raina says happily.

She smiles, pleased the little girl remembered her name.

“Hi little one.” She says, watching her mother moving out from under her father’s arm.

“How was your date?” Arya asks, smirking. There was a hint of teasing in her voice and it made Sansa want to smack her.

She rolls her eyes instead. “Great. We’ll be getting married next fall, you’re all invited…” she tells them turning quickly and making her way up stairs.

She knows very well that her mother is following her but she pretends not to notice until she tries to close her bedroom door.

Her mother’s face says it all. She knows she had an awful time. Sansa knows she means well with all these blind dates. She knows she only wants her to be happy, it’s all anyone wanted for her after her horrible breakup.

Joffery Lannister wasn’t someone she thought about too often, at least not recently. But it still stung when she thought about everything he promised her and how quickly it all fell apart.

Everything always fell apart for her. Sansa was so tired of having such high expectations and getting disappointed every time it all shattered.

“You didn’t like him at all?” Her mother asks, helping her unzip her dress.

Sansa steps away from her and pulls a T-shirt out from one of her drawers. It was from her father’s construction company and had Stark Construction written in black on the back in large letters. She let the dress slide off her and put the T-shirt on, digging in her drawers for some pants.

“He’s very handsome, Sansa.”

She sighs. “And boring as hell.”

A soft knock on her door and Arya slips in. She’s wearing all black again and Sansa wonders if her mother had given her a speech about her appearance yet. She played with the choker necklace around her neck and laid across her bed. Her black ensemble is a striking comparison to the pale pink color of her comforter.

Sansa slips her pants on, eyeing her and waiting for whatever smartass remark her sister was about to say.

“Dickon Tarly, huh?”

Sansa sighs, “Arya please I’m not in the mood to deal with your teasing right now.”

“I’m not teasing you Sans, I just wanna know who the hell would name their child Dickon?”

She can’t help but snort out a laugh at that, and even their mother cracks a smile, but she does shake her head disapprovingly at her daughters. “You two are just awful.”

“Oh come on mom, could you imagine? Little Dickon?” Arya says, sitting up on the end of her bed.

“Enough.” She warns her youngest daughter in a stern voice.

Sansa grabs a hair tie off her dresser and pulls her hair back into a ponytail. “I don’t ever want to go on another date again.” She tells her mother. “At least not any you set up for me.”

Catelyn looks hurt. She puts her hand over her chest and narrows her eyes at Sansa. “You don’t give any of my dates a chance.”

Sansa rolls her eyes. “His name was Dickon mom. Dickon!”

Arya rises up from the bed and shoots Sansa a look as she edges towards the door. “You should of asked him where Dick-off was…”

Sansa bites her bottom lip to keep from laughing.

Catelyn swats at her bottom as she walks past her. “I raised a bunch of wildlings.” She says halfheartedly.

Arya’s laughter can be heard as she makes her way back down stairs.

Sansa pulls her makeup removal wipes from her makeup bag and leans towards the mirror on her dresser and starts wiping her face. She’s fully aware of her mother looking at her with that pitiful look she gives her all the time lately.

Sansa hates this look.

“You know I only want you to be happy sweetheart.”

Sansa stops wiping and looks at her. Her mother’s eyes are dark and sad and it makes her stomach tighten. She really hated how upset her mother was over this whole situation. She had been setting her up on dates for months now and they usually ended this way, the two of them on the verge of a fight.

Her mother just didn’t get it, it was completely foreign territory to her that her daughter didn’t want a boyfriend. She didn’t understand that Sansa had great friends and a fulfilling life without having a boyfriend.

And she knew her mother’s concern was genuine but it was starting to suffocate her.

“I am happy, mom.” She says, going back to taking her makeup off her face.

She sees her reflection in the mirror as she nods.

“I’ve got a couple pies in the oven and lots of vanilla ice cream. Come down when you’re ready.” She tells her with a soft smile.

“Thanks, mom.”

When the door shuts behind her mother, Sansa lets out a sigh. Her room felt less crowded now without her mother’s intense gaze. She knew she really did mean well, but it was a little insulting that she didn’t think Sansa could be happy without having a man.

It wasn’t a priority of hers anymore, not since Joffery.

He taught her a lot more than what a narcissistic sociopath looks and acts like. He also showed her that love was overrated and fickle.

Some times she thinks it isn’t real at all.

But then she sees her parents and her siblings with their partners and she stops herself. Love was real, but it just might not be something she would ever find.

And she had to be okay with that…

Sansa finishes cleaning her face off and looks at herself in the mirror for a moment. She didn’t look entirely awful, without her makeup. She did look a little more tired, but she still felt cute.

Her tattered T-shirt though, it had to go. She takes it off and tosses it onto her bed. She digs through her closet and finds the oversized cream colored sweater that she sometimes wore to bed on particularly cold nights. It was warm and comfy and also cute. The front of it was a v-neck and showed off her chest nicely. She marvels at her collar bones in the mirror and tugs the hair-tie from her long hair and lets it fall over her shoulders.

She isn’t trying to look good for Jon. No. Not Jon. She just doesn’t want to look messy in front of him.

There was a difference.

Sansa pads down the stairs, letting the smell of cinnamon wafting through the air guide her to the kitchen.  
She can hear her family’s booming voices before she even gets halfway down the stairs.

Everyone was moved out except for her and Rickon. Robb and Talisa have their own house in Wintertown, and Bran and Arya are both still in school. Her sister was living on campus and Bran and Meera had an apartment together downtown.

It had been a while since everyone was back all at once. But they were all here tonight for family dinner because the guest of honor.

Sansa smiles when she sees him, sitting at the kitchen table with her brother’s all of them eating Catelyn’s famous apple pie with heaping servings of ice cream.

Arya hands her a plate and smiles. “Better hurry up before Gendry eats it all.”

He says something from the end of the counter but his mouth is so full of food Sansa can’t understand him.

She smirks, walking over to the pie pans sitting on the oven. One of them was completely gone and the other only had a few slices left in it. She picked up the pie knife and lifted a decent size piece onto her plate. The steam was still rising off enough where the ice cream would melt just a little over top of it. Sansa can feel her mouth watering, her mother’s apple pie was one of her favorite deserts aside from lemon cakes of course.

When she makes her way over to the counter to get a scoop of the vanilla bean ice cream on the counter she hears the sound of a little voice saying her name.

She turns around and finds little Raina looking up at her, her lips stained a little with the vanilla ice cream.

“Hey little one.”

She smiles. “Can I have some more ice cream?”

Sansa’s eyes flick to Jon, who is still chatting away at the table.

“Daddy, said it was okay.” Raina tells her as if she can read her mind.

She laughs, “do you want some more pie?”

She shakes her head and that pretty blond hair shimmies around her face with the movement. Sansa is envious of those dark eyelashes, she would kill for lashes like that. How glorious it would be not to have to wear falsies all the time.

Raina held her plate out and Sansa scoops her out a large scoop of ice cream. “There you go sweetling.”

“Thank you.” She says, walking back over to the table to sit next to her dad. Jon doesn’t even have to stop listening to the conversation as he takes her plate then scoops her up to join him at the table.

She feels someone touch her chin and she swats it away.

Arya laughs. “Sorry I was just getting that drool before someone notices.”

Sansa rolls her eyes.

Her sister leans across the counter and smirks at her, and in a quiet voice she says. “That’s still a thing I see.”

She raises her eyebrow, trying her best to act clueless but Sansa knew Arya wasn’t falling for it at all.

She picks up her plate and takes a bite of the pie. The ice cream was a little melted but it was still good.

“Secrets safe with me, sis.”

Sansa rolls her eyes again. “It’s really nothing, Arya.”

Of course she doesn’t fall for that either, but she lets it go, walking over to join Gendry on his side of the counter.

When she looks up from her plate Jon is making his way towards her and her heart flutters in her chest.

She quickly realizes though that he is only walking to the sink.

He offers her a soft smile, as he rinses the mess from his plate.

It really was unfair how good looking Jon Snow was. That black curly hair that he had pulled back from his face into a man bun. It really was a flattering look on him, even if she did prefer his hair down. His beard was a thing of beauty all his own, Sansa never really liked very much facial hair on men but Jon was definitely making it work.

His chest was broader than she remembered it and she’s sure she wouldn’t be disappointed by what was underneath his black T-shirt.

But Sansa dismisses the thoughts in her head. Those old habits won’t do her any good. He was her brother’s best friend and she’s sure he’ll never see her for anything other than Robb’s little sister.

Believing anything else was pointless.

 

 


	3. Raina Grace Snow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my inspo for little Raina - isnt she just the perfect little mini for Jon?

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/181776215@N03/47983174248/in/dateposted/)


	4. Lost and Found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say thank you to everyone reading. The reaction to this story has been great and I am glad you guys are enjoying. I’m so excited to be writing this little universe because I have so many plans and ideas and I’m so grateful everyone is loving it. I also want to say that no offense to Dany or her fans in this story. I changed some tags because some people took offense to her being listed as a character when this is a Jonsa story... normally I would comment something catty back but I’m trying to not let little things get to me so I just deleted them and went about my day :) but FYI I’m not completely anti-Dany but she isn’t a good person in this story (as in the show) and if you can’t handle that then don’t read it.
> 
> As for my Jonsa fam, hope y’all enjoy this next update and all the love in the universe to you all! Happy Reading :)

“Up daddy! Up!” Raina exclaims, jumping up and down on his bed. Jon rolls over and squints his eyes against the light spilling through the window.

When she sees his eyes open Raina hops onto his chest and giggles happily. Jon grunts from the sudden impact, the thirty pound toddler he’s sure has crushed his vital organs.

She giggles, and smiles at him sweetly. “You sleepy still, daddy?”

Jon chuckles, scrubbing his hand down his face. “I am. Can we sleep a little longer sweetheart?”

She shakes her head adamantly. “I really need some peanut budder toast.” She tells him matter-of-factly.

He rises up with a chuckle, scooping her up in his arms and carrying her into the kitchen. While she babbled on about her toast.

When they had arrived last night to the small house he was leasing from Robb, he had been surprised to see that most of his furniture that he had shipped ahead had already been set up. He had even stocked the fridge with some essentials to get them through the weekend. It was more than Jon ever expected, and he didn’t know how he would ever be able to repay him for this.

The house was small but perfect for him and Raina. It was in a quiet neighborhood in one of the Wintertown subdivisions called Winter’s Edge. All of the houses in the neighborhood had large lots and lots of privacy, something Jon was very excited about.

He hated all the noise of the city and was glad to be back in the country.

The house was painted an almost teal color outside, Talisa had told him it was called “tranquility” which he thought to be fitting for the place. There was a huge oak tree in the front yard where he planned to hang a tire swing for Raina and a yard big enough to eventually get a dog.

He had so many plans for this place and he was so excited to make a wonderful new life for his baby girl.

Raina watches him with thoughtful eyes as he opens the loaf of bread and puts two pieces into the toaster. He smiles at her and brushes the her messy hair away from her eyes. “Do you like our new house sweetheart?”

She nods, and her hair falls back into her eyes. Jon smirks, taking one of the hair ties from his wrist and as easy as possible he starts pulling her hair up into a little bun like the one he usually wears.

She scrunches her little nose up and groans as he ties her hair back.

“I don’t like your ponytails, daddy.” She tells him seriously.

Jon lets out a little laugh. “You don’t? I thought I was very good at them.”

She sighs, obviously not amused by him at all.

His heart sinks a little, that look she’s giving him makes her look just like her mother.

He hates how his heart still pangs over her. Some times he wishes he could forget Dany Targaryen all together. But missing her snuck up on him at times and he always tried his best to keep his emotions away from his daughter.

She could pick up on them so easily and he never wanted to upset her.

He dreads the day when his daughter will come asking him questions about her mother. He worried that one day Dany might show back up and he would have to explain things to Raina that he himself didn’t even understand.

He knew one of these things would happen eventually, and now that she was getting older Raina would begin to notice that she didn’t have a mom like other kids. Jon knew that pain so well, the abandonment that came with your parent not wanting you.

He never knew who his father was and his mom died giving birth to him. He spent most of his childhood trying to put faces to these people he had never met, always wondering.

Nothing hurt him more that his own child would experience those things.

“I love peanut budder toast, I love it so much.” She sings. The little girl was always making up her own little songs and it was always amusing to him. “It’s the best breakfast ever!”

He chuckles, handing her the jar because he knows she likes to open them herself, or at least try to.

She does manage to get this one off and she smiles proudly looking up at him with wide brown eyes. “I did it!” She called out happily, her little voice booming through the quiet house.

“Good job sweetheart.”

She claps her hands together and begins another little song that has something to do with her loving toast and pink unicorns.

Jon grabs a plate and a butter knife and sits them by the toaster.

He hears her gasp and turns his attention back to her in shock. “What’s the matter baby?”

“I don’t have my Corny, daddy.” She tells him, tears welling in her eyes. “We left her!” She cries, erupting into a fit tears.

His heart races and he scoops her up, trying to calm her down. But her sobs only get louder.

Jon pats her back, swaying her back and forth. “It’s okay baby we’ll get your unicorn.”

“We left her at our old house.” She wails.

“No we must of left her at Poppa and Nana Stark’s. Remember sweetheart? You had her last night.”

She raises her face from his shirt and sniffles, and he can see her think about it for a moment. “She is scared without me, daddy.” Her little voice wavers and tears slide down her cheeks.

He hated when she was upset like this. It happened so out of the blue some times and he just counted it off as normal two year old behavior. But she loved her little pink unicorn more than any of her toys. The raggedy thing had been by her side since the day she was born. Jon rememberers the day that Dany had begged him to take her down to the gift shop in the hospital, she hated being cooped up in the room and even if it was just a trip to the gift shop it had made her feel better. She picked up the little stuffed unicorn and smiled widely. “I think she’ll love it.”

He almost threw it away when Dany had left, but Raina had already formed an attachment to the thing. She usually couldn’t sleep without it, but she had been preoccupied with the new house and her big girl bedroom to even notice last night.

He has her calmed down enough where he can go and find his phone. It’s still charging beside his bed. He scrolls through the contacts and stops on the Stark’s home number. Her adjusts Raina in his arms and she buries her face in the crook of his shoulder.

“Don’t worry baby we’ll get Corny back, I promise.” He tells her sweetly as the phone rings in his ear.

“Stark residence.” He recognizes Rickon’s voice immediately even though he’s trying to sound sophisticated but he sounds ridiculous.

“It’s Jon, hey buddy do you see a pink unicorn anywhere?”

“Pink unicorn?” He says and Jon can hear him shuffling around as if he’s looking for it, “pink unicorn… hmmm.”

Jon shifts impatiently, and Raina raises her head, eyeing the toast that must have popped up in the toaster while he was distracted.

He sits her on the counter, holding his phone to his ear with shoulder. He reaches for the plate and starts spreading peanut butter on the bread.

Raina wipes her cheeks and sniffles.

“Rickon?” Jon asks, “are you even looking?”

He chuckles. “Yeah, I don’t see it.” He laughs again. “I didn’t even know we had a house phone it never rings.”

Jon scoffs. “Is anyone else there?”

“Yeah, hang on.” He says.

He shakes his head. Rickon was a typical sixteen year old boy and Jon was sure looking for a stuffed pink unicorn was the last thing he wants to do on a Saturday but he wasn’t completely convinced he had even looked.

“Hey,” Sansa’s voice says on the other end of the phone sings like music in his ears. “Heard your looking for a cute little unicorn.”

Jon chuckles, cutting the piece of toast into four pieces just the way Raina liked it. “Please tell me you have it.”

“Yes I do, Mom found her last night. She is currently sitting on the kitchen counter eyeing me.”

“Thank the Gods,”

Sansa laughs a little. “Should I bring her over? I’m sure Raina is missing her.”

“That would be great, do you know where it is?”

“Of course, who do you think helped Robb and Talisa set everything up?”

“Oh.” There was something exciting about Sansa setting his stuff up for him. Making sure things were in order.

Raina smiles at him, pleased with her toast for the moment.

“Just let me change and grab my keys, I’ll be on my way.”

“Thank you, Sansa.” He tells her. “You’re saving my life.”

She laughs. “I’m sure you will find a way to repay me.” Her voice is dripping with innuendos but he’s sure he’s imagining it.

He chuckles nervously, and hangs up his phone. Turning his attention back to his daughter who has peanut butter in the corners of her mouth now.

He smiles, “would you like some milk?”

She nods her head, “Um-hmm.” She says kicking her little feet happily.

Jon grabs a new pink cup from the cabinet and opens his fridge. Robb had stocked him with the bare essentials but he would definitely need to make a trip to the grocery store soon.

“Sansa is going to bring Corny here, isn’t that nice?” He asks, pouring milk into her cup.

“Uh-huh. Thank you, daddy.” She says, her mouth thick with peanut butter.

He chuckles, handing her cup over and kisses her cheek.

Jon figures he ought to change her out of her oversized t-shirt and he himself was only in his boxers and a wrinkled T-shirt.

When Sansa showed up he wanted them to look like they hadn’t just rolled out of bed.

He moves Raina to her tiny pink table, setting up in front of the television were he’s got Bubble Guppies ready to go. It should be enough to distract her long enough for him to brush his teeth and put on some clothes.

“Daddy is going to go change, you be good okay?”

“Kay…” She says, only focusing on the cartoon. He’s lost her to those weird little mermaid-like creatures she was so obsessed with. He hoped eventually that she would find a different cartoon to watch, something that wouldn’t make him want to bang his head against the wall.

He changes quickly. Deciding on a dark pair of jeans and a gray t-shirt. His clothes were still in bags so he just grabbed the first things he found. He needed to get everything hung up and together or else he would be living out of bags for weeks.

Jon opens one of the bags thrown on his floor, and pulls some clothes out for Raina. He also grabs a fresh pull up and walks into the living room to find her in the same spot she left her in, staring at the TV.

Some times Jon wondered if she watched too much TV. He’ll admit, at times he’ll turn it on simply to distract her and give himself a moment of peace and quiet.

He wasn’t sure if that made him an awful father, but sometimes it was his only salvation.

He kneels down so he’s eye level with her. She has peanut butter down her chin now, and some smeared down the front of her T-shirt.

Jon took a deep breath.

“I don’t wanna get dressed, daddy.”

“Come on sweetheart, we have to get ready for the day.”

She sighs, ever so dramatically annoyed with him again.

He doesn’t know how he will ever survive her as a teenager. The attitude she has now at two will only get bigger.

Jon smiles, getting up to grab a wash cloth to clean the peanut butter from her face.

“Can we go see Poppa Tark?” She asks as he he makes his way back into the living room. He can’t help but smile.

He was so worried about how Raina would take up with the Starks. She could be a little stubborn and hard on new people some times, a lot like him that way. He remembers how she had thrown her entire glass of milk at one of her old nannies in Oldtown for simply telling her good morning once.

But she took up with the Stark’s as if she’d known them her whole life.

Especially Ned. She didn’t want to leave him last night, she had hugged his leg and made him promise she could come back.

“We’ll see them soon, okay sweetheart?”

She nods, finishing off the last of her toast. “Okay, I’m ready for my clothes now.”

He manages to get her cleaned up and dressed before Sansa knocks on his door.

Jon doesn’t know why his heart flutters a bit, or why he feels excited at the prospect of seeing her.

It’s odd and he pushes the feeling away, burying them deep.

When he opens his door, he finds her standing there smiling at him widely.

She has on a pair of big black sunglasses and she’s holding a cardboard drink tray with two cups of coffee and a smaller plastic cup filled with what looks like pink lemonade or something.

“Hey,” She says, handing him Corny with another smile. “I didn’t know if Robb had been smart enough to get you coffee, so I stopped off to get you one.”

He laughs. “No he hadn’t been, thank you.” He steps aside and let’s her walk in.

Raina jumps up and down excitedly. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” She says, clapping her hands and reaching for her stuffed toy.

Sansa smiles, sitting the tray on the counter and turning to look at Raina and hand her the lemonade. “It’s sugar free.” She reassures him with a smile that sets his body on fire. She’s wearing a pair of light colored jeans with a hole over her right knee. Her navy blue T-shirt is two sizes too big, but has it tied into a knot by her left hip, which made a little patch of her ivory skin visible.

He stares way too long. And he _hates_ himself for it.

Sansa and Raina fall into an easy conversation, the little girl is telling her all about her pink unicorn and Sansa is listening as if she’s telling her the most interesting story she’s ever heard.

He had to admit, seeing the two of them interact this way was really adorable. His daughter had fallen in love with Sansa Stark the moment she laid eyes on her. Jon could tell. It really wasn’t that easy of a feat, especially for women.

He found that Raina had a distrust for women. Of course Gilly was an exception, she had been around his baby girl almost everyday since Dany had left. But other women had a hard time gaining his daughter’s trust. It’s one reason why he never even tried to date, his little wildling would just scare them off.

“Have you ever seen My Little Pony?” Sansa asks her as he walks over to the counter to pick up his cup of coffee.

Raina shakes her head.

“Well it was one of my favorites when I was little.” Sansa tells her, “and there are a few unicorns on there too.”

Raina gasps, her eyes wide with wonderment. “Oh my Gods.”

Jon chuckles, taking a drink of the coffee only to have the too sweet taste of vanilla and caramel fill his mouth.

He coughs, swallowing it down. “Uh, Sansa I appreciate the thought but I don’t really care much for sweet coffee.”

She looks up at him with a frown. “That ones mine.” She laughs, easing up to take it from him. She sits it on the counter and hands him the other cup. “This one is just black, that’s how you like it right?”

He nods, and quickly takes a sip to wash the taste of the sickly sweet sugar out of his mouth.

She chuckles, taking a sip of her cup, completely unaffected that he had taken a drink from it just a few moments before. “Sorry I should have warned you.”

He just shakes his head, trying his best not to stare at her too long again.

Sansa shifts from foot to foot looking nervous for a second. “Well I guess I should go, I’m sure you want to get settled in and everything…”

“No!” Raina says, jumping up from her chair. “I want you to stay!”

Sansa smiles.

“I’m sure Sansa has her own things she needs to get done today, sweetheart.” Jon tells the little girl who is pouting up at them. Her dark eyes filling with tears.

“Please Sansa, please. Daddy is so boring.”

Jon looks offended and Sansa stifles a laugh as she takes a long drink of her coffee.

“I’ve got to go to the grocery store.” Jon says, “maybe you can come with us and help keep her occupied.”

Sansa smiles. “Sure, I would love to actually.”

Jon returns her smile, He tells himself it was mainly for Raina, and because he despises grocery shopping more than going to the dentist. But there is a small part of him, a small and selfish part that just wants to get to know her a little better. He had genuine relationships with all the Starks, except for her. She usually kept her distance from him when they were younger and Jon just always assumed that she didn’t care much for the foster kid from the wrong side of the tracks. She seemed different now though, older and more mature. Completely different than the girl he used to know.

And, he wanted to get to know her and hoped she felt the same.

 


	5. Adventures in Grocery Shopping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks a ton for all the love guys, it really means the world to me ♡

Sansa pushes the cart through the store, a happy and very talkative Raina sat in the front telling her all about the plane ride she took just days before. Most of it was incoherent toddler babble, but she got the gist of what she was saying.

“It took forever to get here!” She says, a little out of breath at the end of her story.

Sansa smiles, peeking over at Jon who was inspecting some meat at the counter.

It did feel a little odd being here with them like this. She couldn’t help but see people look at them, a casual smile in their direction as they walked through the crowded store. People probably assumed they were a family out for a typical shopping trip. And it was kind of weird.

But it was also kind of nice.

She knew Jon Snow didn’t think of her that way. He never so much as have her a second glance the entire time they were growing up. But she did think about things like this with him. And this wasn’t necessarily one of her fantasies but it still felt nice all the same.

He’s so cute, his face growing serious as he checks over the different cuts of meat, comparing them to each other, like it was some major decision which one to get.

“Need any help?” She offers.

Jon looks up from the two packages of meat in his hands and shrugs, he sits them both in the cart and offers her a shy smile. “Sorry I just— I never really know what to get at the grocery store.”

“You should try making a list,” she offers.

Jon nods, a small smile forming on his lips. “I used to use this grocery app back home and they would just deliver the groceries to my car.”

Sansa scrunches her nose up at him, “where’s the fun in that?”

“Not having to deal with a lot of people.” He says with a quirk of a smile as he gestures around the crowded store.

She rolls her eyes.

Jon was a bit of a introvert. She had noticed the change in his demeanor when they entered the busy store that afternoon. She knew that he didn’t much care for anything that entailed large crowds. Robb had a hard time getting him to do much of anything else other than hang out in the pool house during high school. She never really knew of Jon ever going to one of the wild parties her brother and his other friends went to while they were in school.

She could appreciate that side of him, some times she hated going out to a rowdy bar filled with guys who just wanted to cop a feel on the dance floor. But the grocery store was hardly a crowded party or bar.

Sansa always liked grocery shopping for some odd reason. It was cathartic for her to just go to the store with a list and tick all those items off one by one until it was finished. It gave her a sense of accomplishment.

“Well tell me what you guys like to eat and I’ll make a list on my phone.”

Jon smiles. “Anything really. We aren’t picky.”

“I want Lucky Charms.” Raina says, interrupting them with a wide grin.

Jon chuckles, brushing his hand through her hair. “Of course, well get your cereal baby don’t worry.”

She smiles widely at him and Sansa can’t help but smile at them. It was only making him more attractive to her.

“Okay.” Sansa says, typing lucky charms into the note on her phone. She looks in the cart. “You’ve got ground beef here, I’m assuming for spaghetti?” Jon nods and she continues typing away. “So you’ll need some noodles and sauce.”

“Cheese bread.” Raina suggests. “Sketti and cheese bread.”

Jon nods in agreement.

Sansa laughs, “okay so there’s one meal. You also have steak, does Raina eat steak?”

“Sketti.” She says shaking her head.

“Steak’s for me. I’ll make her a baked potato that night.” Jon tells her.

Sansa adds potatoes and butter to her list and looks up from her phone to find Jon looking at her. She knows it doesn’t mean anything, not really. But she can’t help but take note of the look in his eyes as he watches her, it’s almost as if he’s trying to figure her out.

Little does her know, all he’d have to do is ask her and she would gladly tell him whatever he wanted to know.

Sansa takes a deep breath, “Anything else you like to make?”

“Hamburgers.” He says with a little smile, walking back over to get another pack of ground beef. Sansa shakes her head. “Here,” she picks up the pack inside the cart and hands it off to him. “Just get a bigger one, it’s cheaper that way and we can separate it back at your place.”

He raises his eyebrows. Looking flustered at the thought.

Sansa thrusts the package at him. “I’ll just add some freezer bags to the list.”

Jon nods, getting a bigger container of ground beef and pitting it into the cart. He looks towards her with a soft smile. “Thank you, Sansa.”

“You’re welcome, Jon.”

  
After about half an hour in the store they head towards the checkout counters. There are lines all the way back to the start of the food aisles and Sansa watches Jon twitch with nervous energy. She wants to reach out and touch his arm to try and soothe him, but she thinks touching him right now might just make things a little worse.

“Everything okay?” She asks softly. She had given Raina her phone and the little girl was playing Candy Crush happily and completely distracted

Jon’s eyes cut to her and he gives her a tense nod. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

She nods, inching forward as the line moves. “Thanks for letting me tag along. I really enjoy grocery shopping.”

He nods, stepping a little closer to her, his voice just inches from her ear. “You’re way better at it than me.”

“Organization is key.”

Raina yawns from the front of the cart and Sansa smiles at her. She really was just the cutest little thing she had ever saw. She saw so much of Jon in her the more she looked at her. Those big brown eyes look up at her and she smiles faintly. “Can you show me that pony show, when we get back home?”

Sansa smiles, “sure if your daddy says it’s okay.”

Jon nods, “you can stay for dinner if you’d like. Least I could do for you helping us out today.”

“I’d love to.” She says, walking around the back of the cart so she can start unloading things onto the conveyer belt. “What are we having?”

“Sketti!” Raina says excitedly.

Jon smiles, leaning in to kiss her head.

She knows it’s crazy for her to think things like this but she wishes she could spend every day with the two of them. Even if it was just a grocery shopping trip, Sansa felt like she was where she was supposed to be for the first time in forever.

But she couldn’t let herself feel those kinds of things. It was too forward and too risky. She couldn’t assume simply because Jon was being nice to her that he was into her. They were practically family and she was reading too much into things.

  
By the time they make it back to Jon’s, Raina has fallen asleep in her car seat, her little head lolled to the side, her face smushed a little against the pink fabric of the seat. Sansa looks back at her and smiles, looking towards Jon in the driver seat.

“Gods she is so adorable.”

Jon smiles. “She is.”

“You’re an amazing father,” She blurts out, feeling silly for a moment. “I mean I didn’t doubt you would be but seeing it with my own eyes, it really is quite a sight to behold.”

He raises his dark eyes to her almost shyly, and Sansa watches them flit over her face, lingering on her lips.

No, she thinks. She’s imagined the entire thing.

Jon Snow was not looking at her like that.

“She really likes you.” Jon tells her quietly. “She has a hard time trusting women, but she took right up to you.”

Sansa’s heart clenches in her chest. She hadn’t thought much about the little girls mother. She had seen pictures of Dany of course, stalking her Instagram the moment she realized her and Jon were a thing. She knew how drop dead gorgeous she was and she got jealous every time she saw a picture of her and Jon together.

When she heard that Dany had left Jon, so shortly after their daughter was born she remembered hating her even more.

What kind of person just walks away from their child? What kind of person just walks away from Jon?

“We should get these groceries inside.” Jon says, pulling his keys from the ignition and pushing his door open. “I’ll carry her to bed and come back out to grab the heavy ones.”

Sansa nods following suit and opening her own door. She walks around to the trunk of the car and sliding bags into her arm. Her and Rickon play this game when their mom brought groceries home to see who could carry the most. She had gotten really good at carrying lots of bags on her arms determined to beat her little brother. She takes this task just as seriously, wanting to get as many bags inside she can before Jon finishes getting Raina to her room. She smiles proudly when she manages to get over half the bags in the trunk, leaving just a few behind and a case of soda behind. She even got a gallon of milk and the laundry detergent along with her haul.

Jon comes out of the back room and shakes his head at her. “Leave anything for me?” He asks with a chuckle.

She only laughs, untangling the bags from her arms and sitting them on the counter to be unpacked and put away.

He walks outside and returns a few moments later with the rest of the bags and makes his way into the kitchen. “You’re stronger than you look.” Jon jokes, eyeing the pile of bags on the counter.

“I work out.” She tells him casually, “no biggie.”

He laughs, and the sound is music to her ears.

Gods, did he know how completely breathtaking he is? Surely he had to notice when he looked in a mirror.

Sansa chews on her bottom lip, forcing herself to focus on putting the groceries away and not on him.

It was a complete lost cause.

She wonders if it’s completely obvious how into him she really is. She feels like she’s practically salivating watching the muscles in his arm move as he puts cereal into the cabinets. They were a work of art.

Sansa can’t help but imagine how it would feel to wrap her hands around them, to feel them around her body.

“Sansa?” His voice cuts through the static in her head.

“Hmm?”

“You’re crushing the pop tarts.”

She looks down at the box in her hand, she’s gripped them so tightly the corners have buckled in and she laughs it off. “Where do you want these?”

He reaches out for them, and as he takes it their fingers brush just a little. But it sends a shiver through her entire body.

Gods she needed to pull herself together.

The last thing Jon needed was her entertaining these silly ideas about the two of them. There was no sense in it at all.  
She was starting to worry about herself.

  
An hour or so passes and Jon’s turned on some music on his phone as he begins making dinner. Sansa insisted on him letting her unpack some things in the living room. So she’s sitting crosses legged on the floor unwrapping newspaper from some pictures and sitting them out on the couch until she’s figured out where they should go.

Most of the frames are pictures of Raina. She is quite the little model, and it seems like Jon is quite the photographer himself. He’s got some great shots of her, playing in their yard, one with a yellow dress and a large white ribbon in her hair. Her big hazel eyes looking at the camera with earnest. Sansa smiles as she unwraps each one. The last one she finds is of Jon and her, both of them a bit dressed up. He’s wearing a gray sports jacket and a white button up, and Raina is in that same yellow dress with her white ribbon. The two of them are looking at each other, the little girl laughing and Jon is smiling at her.

“Sansa?”

She looks up, finding Jon staring at her from behind the kitchen counter.

“You want to try this sauce? I feel like it’s missing something.”

She nods, sitting the picture down among the others and walks into the kitchen.

She really was impressed when Jon informed her at the grocery store that he made his own sauce for spaghetti. She had sit the jar of Ragu down and smirked, “well okay then.”

She can smell the hardy smell of the sauce as he lifts the lid from the pan. His wooden spoon stirs the red sauce around a bit then he leaves a little bit on the edge of the spoon, blowing on it to cool it off a little before he offers it to her.

Sanaa’s eyes dart up to his and she sees that same look in them she saw at the grocery store.

Her stomach is in knots as she tears her eyes away from him to look at the spoon. Steam is still rising from the sauce but she leans in and takes the end of the spoon into her mouth and is overcome with the taste.

It was definitely better than Ragu, that was for sure.

Her eyes close for a moment as she savors the flavors on her tongue. There was garlic and roasted tomato and basil. It was amazing, and she didn’t think it was missing anything really.

“Gods that’s good.” She whispers, licking her lips and watching his face as she does.

He looks away sheepishly and Jon turns from the stove and rinses the spoon in the sink. He opens his mouth to speak but is interrupted by a little voice.

“Daddy?” He turns around quickly and all his attention is focused on her now.

Raina rubs sleep from her eyes with one hand and the other holds on tightly to her pink unicorn. “I go pee.”

Jon sits the spoon down on the stove and looks at her for a moment before he walks around the counter. “Be right back.”

Sansa nods as he disappears down the hallway with Raina.

She walks over to the table and pulls her phone out of her purse to try and distract herself a little. She hadn’t checked her phone since they got back from the store, she’s got a text from her mom asking what sounded good for dinner and a few unread emails that she’s sure are probably just junk.

She texts her mom back and tells her that she’s having dinner with Jon and Raina.

She clicks her phone off and slides it into her back pocket, not waiting to see what her mom is texting back.

It could be anything really. Her mother loved Jon like he was her own son, but Sansa figured it might be a little weird for her to just be hanging out here. It’s not like she ever really hung out with Jon without Robb around before. The whole weirdness of the situation seemed overwhelming for a moment and she honestly stood there thinking of an escape route when her phone starts ringing Sansa knows that it’s her mom and she knows it’s probably not good.

She pulls it out of her back pocket and frowns when her mother’s smiling face looks back at her from the screen.

She slides the icon over to answer it and places it against her ear. “Hello.”

“Hello darling.”

“Hi mom.”

“I am just calling to tell you that I’ve invited some guests over tonight for dinner, some you might be interested in meeting.”

Sansa sighs, “male guests?”

“Of course.”

She can almost see the satisfied smile on her mother’s face.

“I’ve already told them I was staying, and I already told you I’m not letting you set me up on anymore dates.” She reminds her kindly.

A groan from the other end of the phone makes Sansa smirk.

With this crusade her mother had been on trying to set her up lately she might be pleased to see her spending time with Jon, but she guessed maybe her mother had her reservations about Jon after all.

She looks up from her fingers tapping the counter in time to find Raina standing there smiling at her.

“Mom I’ve gotta go dinner is almost done,”

“Okay, just let me know when you’re on your way home, darling.”

“Yes ma’am.”

After she ends the call she sits the phone on the counter and smiles at Raina.

“Can we watch the pony show now, please Sansa?”

She laughs, looking up from her in time to see Jon rounding the corner. His smile is easy and comforting and Sansa finds herself smiling goofily at him. “Can we watch My Little Pony while we eat?” Sansa asks him.

Jon nods, “I’m just hoping we move on from Bubble Guppies.”

Raina laughs and runs towards the TV grabbing the remote and turning it on with ease. Sansa walked over to help her, laughing at the way she seemed to be trying to read the different apps on the Roku stick Jon had hooked up to the TV earlier. She smiles up at Sansa and hands her the remote. “I have to go get Corny before we watch!” She says quickly starting off down the hallway to retrieve her stuffed unicorn.

Sansa hears Jon laugh from behind her and she turns around to smirk at him, “I really hope you don’t hate me after this,” Sansa says as she goes to the Netflix app and starts typing in the search box. Raina comes galloping back in time for Sansa to click on the episode. The theme song begins, and upbeat little tune that Raina immediately starts dancing to. Her little eyes are glued to the TV as the character all begin to appear on the screen. She seems impressed and Sansa shoots a look at Jon who is shaking his head but smiling at her at the same time. And she finds herself wondering if there was ever anything more beautiful than the sight of that smile on Jon Snow’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I was editing but I got a little lazy and wanted to post so I apologize for any errors I may have missed!


	6. Picture Perfect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y’all! I’ve been cranking out chapters like crazy the past few days (& ignoring all my other wips) but I figured I would post another one cause I love y’all so much 😉 also I did a little change that really isn’t that crazy but I made Raina 3 instead of 2 - I just want to do a little bit of a time jump in a few chapters and it just worked out better this way. I hope y’all are in this for the long haul cause I sure am! I really love this story so much and am glad you all seem to enjoy it too!

_Well,_ he thinks, _it’s official. Raina has a new best friend._ The two of them were currently on the couch watching the cartoon while he cleaned up the kitchen. Sansa had insisted on helping with the dishes but she had loaded the dishwasher in less than five minutes and Raina had drug her bag to the couch right after. Jon had apologized for his daughter’s insistency but Sansa had brushed him off. He could tell she didn’t mind her enthusiasm at all.

Jon in fact was ecstatic with how well the two of them were getting along. He worried so much over how Raina would adapt to this move. Yes, this was still just the first full day they had spent in Wintertown but he had a good feeling about things.

He had successfully cleaned up the kitchen and was about to join them in the living room when his phone vibrates across the counter. He looks down and sees there is a text message from Robb.

He can’t really explain why he’s suddenly nervous as he puts in his passcode to check the message.

**_Robb: You’re having dinner with my sister?_ **

Jon sighs, looking up at the two of them on the couch. It dawns on him just how weird this might look to everyone.

Especially Robb.

He types back a quick response.

**_Jon: she helped me with Raina at the grocery store._ **

**_Robb: Is she still there?_ **

**_Jon: yes they’re watching TV_ **

He feels like he’s in trouble or something. He walks over to the fridge and gets a beer from the six pack on the bottom shelf. He twists it open and takes a long drink as he walks over to unpack another box sitting by the couch.

Sansa looks away from the TV and smiles at him. “Do you want some help?”

“Can you pry yourself away from the TV?” He teases.

Sansa smirks at him as she stands up from the couch and walks over to get another box. His phone vibrates again and he sits the beer on the side table.

**_Robb: Well Talisa and I were going to come over to help you unpack. Should we not?_ **

Jon smirks, typing away as he hears Sansa opening the other box.

**_Jon: No. come over Sansa and I were just doing that exact thing. We could use the help :)_ **

He clicks his phone off and trades it for his beer. “Your brother’s coming over.”

“Robb?” Her voice sounds a little shocked and Jon turns to face her seeing her eyes wide.

 _Okay_ so he wasn’t the only one who was worried about it.

“Yeah him and Talisa want to help unpack.”

Sansa raises an eyebrow. “Such a good friend you got there.”

Jon nods in agreement.

“Should I go? I’m sure you’d rather hang out with Robb than me.” She’s joking of course but he doesn’t miss the hint of disappointment in her voice.

“Do you want to go?”

“No!” Raina says from behind him.

Sansa shrugs, “guess the jury’s spoken on that one.”

He laughs, watching her unpack more pictures.

“Do you take these?” She asks, unwrapping the newspaper from the pictures. It was one of Raina as a baby, he managed to pull a smile from her after many failed attempts. She was such a chubby little baby, her arms and legs were nothing but fat rolls for that first year.

He nods, remembering her question. “I used to have a really nice camera but Raina actually broke it.” He chuckles, remembering the sound it made as it fell onto the sidewalk and shattered the lens.

“It was an ass-a-dent, Daddy.” She says appearing between the two of them with a large smile.

Sansa his her giggle behind her hand and he reached down to pick her up. “Acc-sa-dent.” He tells her with a little poke in her tummy that makes her giggle.

“I just wanted to take your picture.” She says with a smile.

Sansa digs back into the box and pulls out another picture. “You’re a really good photographer, do you just take pictures of Raina?”

Jon shakes his head. “I wouldn’t call myself a photographer…”

She frowns.

“Daddy likes taking pictures of trees and animals and stuff too.” Raina answers for him. 

Sansa raises an eyebrow, she looks impressed. Jon doesn’t really know why that pleases him so much, but it does.

He adjusts Raina on his hip and walks back over to the couch, he dumps her over the back and her laughter fills the house just as someone, he assumes Robb or Talisa knocks on the door.

Jon walks over and opens it to find his friend standing there with a gallon of ice cream and a large stuffed animal tucked under his arm.

He shakes his head.

Raina of course rushes over at the sight of two of her favorite things, ice cream and stuffed animals. “For me?”

“Raina.” Jon says softly, touching the top of her head.

“Of course they are little bit, do you think Uncle Robb would come over without gifts?”

Raina jumps up and down excitedly and Talisa comes in and kisses him on the cheek. “I told him the ice cream was more than enough.”

“Robb’s never been good at listening.” Jon quips and makes Talisa smile.

Robb scoffs, handing the large pink dog over to Raina and handing the ice cream to him. “What should we name her then?” He asks, kneeling down to be eye level with the toddler.

Raina seems to be thinking it over seriously and he takes the ice cream into the kitchen and watches Sansa and Talisa gushing over the pictures of Raina. He admits he does have quite the collection. His daughter was his favorite subject to take pictures of. It had only been a few months since she had broken his camera and he did miss taking pictures. Some times he would just go for a walk and take his camera and just shoot the different landscapes that caught his eye. There really wasn’t that much beautiful scenery in Old Town but he managed to find a few gems.

Being back up North he did miss his camera, just thinking about all the beautiful things up here made him itch to take some pictures.

Sansa’s laugh broke through his inner monologue and he found himself thinking of how beautiful she would look on the other side of the camera. She had such a photogenic face, he’s sure he wouldn’t even have to try hard to get a good picture of her.

But he pushes those thoughts away, far, far away where they belonged.

Jon didn’t have time to think about any woman in such a way, let alone Sansa Stark.

  
…

  
“I don’t want to go!” Raina yelled from under the covers of his bed.

Jon scrubbed his hand over his face and checked his watch.

This tantrum had been going on for twenty minutes now and he was running out of time to get her to daycare before he had to meet Robb at this rental property they were renovating. But Raina was not having any of it.

“Come on sweetheart, I’m sure you’re going to love your new school.”

“No!” She shrieked her little legs and arms wailing under the covers.

“Raina,” He says, trying to pull the covers off of her. But he always underestimated the strength of his little girl and she tugged them back tighter.

_If you can’t beat em, then…_

Jon rolled off the bed and lifted the cover on the other side and slid under with her. Raina’s hair was all staticky from being underneath the covers and her face was blotchy and red from crying. And she was not happy to see him. She turned over and buried her face in the pillow.

“How about we make a deal?” He asks.

He gets no response from her but he knows she can hear him.

Jon pokes her in the side, right in one of her most ticklish spots and she squirms a little but doesn’t raise her face.

“If we go to school and daddy gets to work on time we will go and get ice cream.”

“I don’t want ice cream.”

“Okay, ice cream and pizza.” He says poking her spot again, this time getting a little giggle from her.

Jon smiles at the sound and Raina raises her face, pushing the covers off both of them. “Can Sansa come too?” She asks.

He sighs, he didn’t really know how to answer that. He had asked about her about a thousand times yesterday and Jon had promised that they would hang out with her again soon.

“I will text her and see, okay sweetheart?”

She sighs, mimicking his own and rolls off the bed. “Fine.” She groan walking down the hall to her bedroom.

He doesn’t know how he’ll ever survive her as a teenager.

Jon gets up from the bed and follows her down the hallway, almost getting her bedroom door slammed in his face, but he puts a hand out to stop it from shutting all the way.

Raina walks over to her dresser and pulls out a pair of jean shorts. Her and Sansa had spent some time organizing her wardrobe on Saturday night, and she had raved nonstop on how Sansa put her clothes away much neater than he ever did.

Raina tosses the shorts on her bed and walks over to her closet and points up at the pink frilly top that had been among the things Robb had gifted her. Jon smiles, reaching to take it down for her and handing it over.

“Thanks.” She says quietly.

Jon kneels down and helps her button her shorts and slide her top over her messy hair, aka his next obstacle of the morning.

Raina seems to know that he’s about to make a move for her hair because she puts her hands over her head and shakes her head. “No pony tails.”

Jon nods, holding his hands up in defense. “Okay, wear it like that.” _Choose your battles_ , he tells himself and stands up and smiles down at her. His little wildling. “Okay, Let’s gets your shoes and backpack and head out.”

“Breakfast?” She asks putting her hand on her hip and glaring up at him.

“I got pop tarts ready for you.” He smirks and his daughter is not amused.

Jon just hoped that this wasn’t an indication on how the rest of the day might go.

…

  
“Hey, how did drop off go?” Robb asks as Jon pulls into the driveway of the house they were working on today.

Jon shook his head, taking a drink from his plastic ccup of coffee. “It took bribery to get her to cooperate this morning. Hope I’m not late.”

Robb shakes his head, “no, right on time.” He smirks, “Come on I’ll introduce you to the guys.”

Jon follows him into the house, the smell of mold lingering in the air. Robb was telling him all about the property how they were going to have to gut it completely before they even wanted to start renovating it.

“You know Theon,” Robb says, gesturing to the skinny guy perched on the last stair scarfing down an egg McMuffin. Jon nods, Theon Greyjoy was an old friend. Of course they hadn’t seen each other since graduation but things had always been cordial between them. Theon extends his fist out and Jon gives him a little fist bump and he returns to eating.

“And this is my head of demolition, Tormund.”

Jon looks up at the large bearded man standing in the center of what used to be the kitchen. He was holding a sledgehammer over his shoulder and smiling proudly at the mess before him.

“Tormund, this is Jon Snow.”

The man extends his hand, wiggling his eyebrows at him. “Aye you must be the lad Robb here’s been raving about.”

Jon shrugs, shaking the bigger man’s hand. “All good things I hope.”

“I was beginning to think he had a crush on you or something, you are pretty enough I guess.” He wiggles his eyebrows wildly.

Jon eyes Robb who starts laughing along with the red headed man. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to Tormund’s jokes.”

“And the smell.” Theon hollers from his spot in the stairs.

The group of men share a laugh and Jon joins in. There were seven of them in total, including him and Robb. He knew Jory Cassel well enough from hanging out at the Stark’s house. He was a close friend of the family. Robb had called him the assistant foreman but Jon’s sure that Jory probably kept the entire operation going. Robb was the boss, but he was easily distracted.

Next was a woman named Osha who had her dark hair hidden underneath a Winterfell University hat and who he’s embarrassed to say didn’t know she was a woman until she started speaking. She seemed tough, she had to be working with this crew. Then there was a man named Edd who seemed like the quiet type, he only nodded at Jon when he was introduced and then went back to drinking his coffee.

Jon thinks he’ll get along fine with them all and it really did feel like a nice fit all around.

He was glad to be doing something more physical. The security job he had in Old Town had been so boring at times. This was the kind of work he enjoyed, pure physical labor.

Things went pretty good, by the end of the day Jon was tired and a little sore but he felt good. He hadn’t gotten a call from daycare and he got on well with the crew and the house seemed to be coming along at a good rate. As everyone was cleaning up for the day, Robb asked him to follow him outside to his truck, to get some tax papers he needed to fill out for payroll.

Jon smiled as Robb tosses him a water bottle from the cooler in the back of his truck.

“First day went well.” He says, opening the driver side door and rummaging through an accordion folder for the papers.

Jon nods. “Yeah man, thank you again for this it’s been good to get my hands dirty again.”

Robb smiles, handing him the papers. “So, can I ask you a serious question?”

He nods, unsure as to what his best friend was about to ask. His head was swimming with possibilities. He took a drink of the water nervously.

“Are you into my sister?”

Jon nearly jokes on his drink. “Huh?”

“Sansa. You two were different the other night. It was… I swear I kept catching you looking at each other.” He laughs. “Am I being paranoid?”

He shakes his head. “I’m not really— you don’t have anything to be paranoid about man, she’s your sister.”

Robb nods, his blue eyes searching his. “I knew she had a crush on you or whatever but I just kept getting the vibe that you two were,” Robb scratches behind his ear. “I dunno man, I mean yeah she’s my sister but it wouldn’t be like the worst thing in the world if you guys…”

“Robb,” Jon interjects. “I’m not looking to get involved with Sansa. Besides I have to focus on Raina right now.”

Robb nods. “Of course man,”

“Sansa’s good with her and Raina adores her and she’s been uprooted and torn away from her family it’s just nice that she took up to Sansa is all.”

His friend nods again. “Yeah, sorry dude I just...” He smirks. “Talisa told me I was being dumb but she always tells me that.”

Jon raises his eyebrow and Robb laughs.

The subject was dropped but Jon thought about it the whole way to pick up Raina.

He felt like a bad friend. But it wasn’t like he could just blurt out to Robb that he thought Sansa was beautiful and _yes_ he did invite her to stay purely for Raina’s sake but that didn’t mean he himself didn’t want her around.

He pulls into the parking lot of the daycare and nearly sprints to the door. He was really worried about his daughter. When she was with Gilly he usually got an update on what she was doing. Gilly would send him picture messages and little silly videos Raina would make on her phone. But he’d heard nothing from the daycare and of course they wouldn’t call unless something went wrong but he had missed her terribly.

He walked through the front door and was greeted by the same woman who helped Raina get settled earlier. A pretty dark haired woman who promised Raina would have a fun filled day.

“Hello Mr. Snow, little Raina was a joy in class today.”

He smiles politely. “Thank you, is she ready to go?”

The young girl nods. “She’s just getting her backpack now.” She points into the room and Jon looks towards the door in time to see his baby run through the door.

“Daddy!” She yells, making his heart swell with joy. He felt tears prick his eyes as he swept her up, intent on never letting her go again.

“Did you have a good day sweetheart.”

“Uh-Huh. I made you a ‘prise!” She tells him excitedly.

Jon smiles, nodding towards the daycare teacher.

“Bye Miss Shae!” Raina hollered as the made their way out the front doors.

“Bye.”

Jon adjusts her on his hip and looks into her eyes. “I missed you so much sweetheart.”

“Missed you too.” She kisses his cheek. “Is Sansa coming now? Please daddy?”

Jon smirks, as he opened the back door and settled her in her seat. “Yes baby, she’s gonna meet us at the pizza parlor.”

He had texted her earlier in the day to ask if she would like to get ice cream and pizza and she texted back fairly quickly with a smiley face emoji and then asked him when and where.

He kept reminding himself that this was for Raina but the thought of hanging out with Sansa tonight really did excite him, maybe even as much as his daughter who was happily dancing in the back seat as they made their way back to their house so he could shower and change before dinner.

 

_Gods help him._


	7. Something Just Like This

Sansa sat in her car outside of the Pizza Emporium idly scrolling through her phone while she waited for Jon and Raina.

When she got his text message this morning about coming to dinner she nearly burst with excitement.

But she told herself that it must be Raina who had brought up the idea. As it was with dinner on Saturday night. And Jon just didn’t have the heart to tell her no.

Things on Saturday had gone pretty good, but Sansa felt a little awkward when her brother showed up. He was watching her too closely and even caught her looking at Jon a time or two. She could see it in his eyes, Robb was onto her.

It wasn’t like she ever told him about the crush she used to have on his friend but surely Robb noticed the way Sansa changed when Jon was around.

Her brother may be _kind of_ dumb but Robb wasn’t stupid.

Of course he had already given her a third degree about her spending time with him. He cornered at dinner on Sunday, as everyone dispersed before desert. She had been on her way to the bathroom when he stepped in front of her with a smirk.

“So you and Jon, Huh?”

Sansa of course laughed him off. He was being ridiculous… “what?”

“You’re into him Sans.”

She rolled her eyes and pushed him out of the way so she could use the restroom. “Get a life Robb.”

Sansa had wondered if Jon got a similar round of questions today. But she couldn’t ask him of course, it would be far too embarrassing.

Her mind was full of doubts.

She knew that she was into Jon. That much was undeniable at this point, but his intentions were still unclear to her. Sansa was sure she didn’t imagine the way he looked at her but it was also very likely that she had.

Just because Jon was nice to her or smiled at her didn’t mean he was _into her._

Sansa thinks she could have just very well imagined it because she wanted it so badly. It was just that old crush making her feel like a thirteen year old all over again.

A car pulled into the spot next to her and she recognized it as Jon’s right away. Her heart fluttered in her chest at the sight of him. His hair pulled back in a bun, it looked like it was a little damp like he was fresh from the shower or something.

_Gods, he really had no right to be this good looking._

She spots Raina in the back seat, hopping up and down excitedly and hollering her name.

It definitely made her feel good. This little girl who she’d known all of three days was completely smitten with her, and of course that feeling was mutual.

Sansa steps out of her car and waits for them on the sidewalk. Twirling the lanyard her keys were on around her fingers nervously. Jon’s eyes met hers over the top of his car, and he gave her one of those little half smiles that sent her heart racing.

She really had to pull herself together.

“Hope we didn’t pull you away from any fun tonight.” Jon says.

He sits Raina to the sidewalk and sits her down. She promptly runs to Sansa and hugs her leg tightly.

”Lots of fun stuff to do in Wintertown on a Monday evening, right?” She jokes, smiling fondly at the pretty little girl at her hip.

“Your hair is so pretty today Sansa.” Raina tells her as she reaches up to skim the bottom of her long red locks.

She smiles, leaning down to hug her. “Thank you, Raina.”

The little girl wraps her arms around her neck and squeezes her tightly.

Sansa laughs, lifting her up and holding her as she watches Jon walk over to them. “How was your first day?”

“Pretty good.” He says. “I missed manual labor.”

Sansa raises an eyebrow. “Oh, you’re serious. Wow.”

Jon laughs, his eyes crinkling as he does. Sansa bites her bottom lip as he begins to speak, wondering if he realizes how fucking glorious his laughter sounds.

“Yeah,” He tells her as the make their way towards the entrance of the pizza place. “I was working security in Old Town so I basically just sat a desk and watched TV screens all day.”

“He didn’t watch cartoons though, right Daddy?” Raina pipes in with a smile.

Jon nods. “Nope. No cartoons, it was terribly boring.” He pokes her side and Raina giggles, her eyes crinkling the same way his do.

Sansa gives him a once over. He was wearing a gray T-shirt and light colored jeans. He had obviously showered before coming here, but he slipped his work boots back on. They were a little dusty from the days work but it complemented his overall look nicely.

He looked like a man who worked hard, and Sansa was mildly turned on.

Okay, not mildly. But she was holding his daughter in her arms and walking into a place full of kids… she needed to behave herself.

Besides, she needs to get thoughts like these out of her head anyways. They would do her absolutely no good.

The sounds from the place invade all their senses. The flashing lights and loud sounds coming from the arcade draw all their attention. Sansa notices how Jon tenses up a bit at the sudden decent into chaos.

“Can we play games too?” Raina asks, her dark eyes widened at what the little girl could only see as fun.

Sansa looked at Jon, waiting to see his answer.

He smiled, but it didn’t touch his eyes completely. “Sure sweetheart, but you have to eat first, deal?”

She nods, “deal.”

Sansa smiles, eyes scanning over the pizza buffet hungrily. She hadn’t been here since she was a kid but the pizza still looked and smelled the same.

“Bran had a birthday here once.” Jon says suddenly from behind her.

Sansa nods, as the line shifts forward. “Yeah, Rickon threw up in the ball pit.”

“Ew, gross.” Raina says, which makes Jon laugh.

When they step up to the counter Sansa digs into her back pocket for her debit card to pay but Jon steps in front of her.

“Two adults, one child please.” He tells the teenage girl working the register.

“Kids under three and under are free,” she smiles at Raina. “How old are you sweetie?”

“Three!” She tells her happily.

Jon smiles proudly and swipes his card.

“You didn’t have to pay for me,” Sansa says as they make their way into the dining room to find a seat.

Jon looks a little wounded and Sansa regrets saying anything. He was just being polite of course and she had to go and act like a jerk about it.

She sits Raina down in the booth and looks up at him. “I just don’t want you to feel obligated to do that.” She fumbles over the words, still feeling like she’s saying the wrong thing. “You’re— ” she shakes her head and just smiles at him. “I’m sorry I should just be thanking you.”

Jon smirks. “No need for that.”

“I want pizza!” Raina says drawing their eyes away from each other. Sansa takes a deep breath when Jon picks her up and sits her on the ground, taking her towards the pizza buffet.

Sansa stands back a bit, watching the patient way Jon names every item on the buffet to his daughter, who seems to be thinking her choices over thoughtfully.

She picks up a plate and walks over to the salad bar. Of course she would get some pizza too but they had an amazing salad bar here with all the fixings. Sansa could never pass up a fresh salad.

She gets back to the table before them with her salad and lemon water. Her eyes scan around the dining room and she notices that there are lots of families here. Moms and dads and kids.

Again she finds herself wondering if people looked at them and thought they were a family.

Raina comes running towards her laughing and Sansa smiles despite the thoughts racing in her head.

“What’s so funny?”

Raina smirks. “Daddy found Mac and cheese pizza!”

Sansa laughs, picking her up and sitting her in the booth next to her. “That sounds amazing.”

“I got two pieces.” She tells her excitedly.

Jon comes to the table then, sitting down a plate in front of her and a small cup filled with something orange. “Mind keeping an eye on her while I get myself a plate?”

“Course not.”

Jon nods, a little half smile in her direction before he leaves.

Raina smiles happily as she takes a bite of her pizza. “Yummy.”

Sansa smiles, taking a bite of her salad. She was wracking her brain for something to talk about with a three-year-old when Raina looked up at her with a thoughtful little gaze.

“What is that?” She asks, eyes looking at her salad offensively.

Sansa smiles, “it’s a salad.”

Raina scrunches her nose and reaches for her cup to take a drink. “I don’t like that stuff.”

“Have you ever tried it?”

She shook her head. “Nope.”

Sansa stifles a laugh. “It’s really yummy too.” She says taking another bite.

Raina looks her salad over once again and shakes her head. “I just like pizza.”

She nods. “I’ll get some pizza too, don’t worry.”

Jon slides into the booth, taking a long drink of his coke and smiling at his daughter. “Did you tell Sansa thank you for coming with us tonight?”

Raina smiles, and with a mouthful of food she says, “fank you.”

Sansa laughs. “You’re welcome.” She looks up at Jon. “You guys actually got me out of another set up from my mother so I appreciate the invite.”

Jon nods, his eyes looking down at his plate for a moment.

“What’s the deal with all that anyways?” He asks after a beat.

“With my mother trying to set me up?”

His eyes find hers again and he nods.

“I think she thinks that I’m unhappy being single.” Sansa tells him dryly. She reaches for her water and takes a long drink, poking the slice of lemon with her straw and glancing up at him as she continues. “I really feel like she doesn’t know me at all, honestly, she sets me up with some awful dates.”

Jon laughs. “I’m sure she means well.”

Sansa nods. “She does.”

“Would you be going out on dates if she wasn’t setting you up?”

What an odd question, Sansa thinks as she chews on the end of her straw. “No. Probably not.”

He seems pleased with her answer and Sansa finds herself wanting to lay it all out on table between them.

But it wasn’t like you could just ask someone, _hey are we vibing here or is it just me?_ Not without sounding like a complete lunatic.

Sansa looks over at Raina, she was chewing on her pizza happily, humming a little.

“I hate dating.” Jon says. “It’s always really awkward and I usually make an A-S-S of myself before we even set down for dinner.”

“So you’ve been on dates then, since…” her voice trails off and she feels like a J-E-R-K for bringing that up. But Jon nods casually.

“Yeah a few but as you can see, none of them planned out well.”

Sansa nods. “I think the worst part is trying to find things to talk about. It starts feeling like a job interview after a while.”

He laughs. “Yeah, it does feel that way some times.” He takes a drink of his coke. “When the conversation feels forced it’s definitely hard to keep up with it. I’ve pretended I had to pick Raina up just to get away.”

Sansa laughs, “using your daughter as an escape route, I don’t know if that’s impressive or awful.”

“It’s awful.” He says laughing.

Raina looks up at him and smiles, like she loves the sound of his laugh just as much as she does. Her little eyes lit up with happiness. “Daddy, I’m full.”

Jon shook his head. “Eat one more piece sweetheart.”

Raina sighs, picking up another piece and taking a small bite.

Sansa’s eyes scan over him and she thinks about how none of her dates felt this easy. But, this wasn’t a date of course. Even if he did pay.

This was just Jon being a good dad and friend. She tells herself, that’s all they will ever be, all they ever can be.

His eyes meet hers for a brief moment and she looks away, embarrassed that she’s been caught staring.

She takes a deep breath. “I’m gonna go and get some pizza, you guys need anything?”

Jon shakes his head and Raina follows suit. “No thank you.” She smiles, sliding out of the booth so Sansa can get out and then slides back in.

“Be right back.” She says, trying her hardest not to dart away from the table. Of course she wanted some pizza too, but she also needed a breather.

Maybe hanging out with Jon this way was a bad idea. It was different when they were around her family, but it was hard to not think of this as something more intimate, even with Raina here.

Sansa stepped up to the buffet and got herself some pizza and pasta and makes her way back towards the table. Jon offers her a small smile as she slides back into the booth, this time she’s on the outside while Raina is in the spot she was before.

“Can we play games now?” Raina asks sounding bored.

Jon eyes her plate, and Sansa notices that she still hasn’t eaten the slice of pizza he had asked her to finished.

“Finish that piece of pizza first baby.”

Raina scoffs. “I’m full.”

Jon shrugs, going back to eating from his own plate. Sansa takes a bite of her pasta trying not to look at him.

But that was as big of a lost cause as getting Raina to eat her pizza.

“I don’t like this pizza anymore, daddy.”

Jon eyes his daughter seriously. “Raina.”

She pushes her plate away from her and folds her arms over her chest. “No.” She snaps.

Sansa can see the frustration in Jon’s face, and she knows it’s not her place to step in so she treads lightly.

“Would you like to try some of this pasta?” She asks her. “It’s really creamy and good.”

Raina eyes the food on her plate suspiciously. “I don’t like it.”

Sansa smiles, putting a piece on her fork and holding it out to her. “You’ll never know unless you try it sweetling.”

Raina eyes the offending noodle on the fork and looks up at Sansa with big doe eyes that make her melt.

She wonders how Jon ever tells her no. How could anyone look into her eyes and not simply give her anything and everything she wants?

The little girl reaches for the fork, far too big to be fed by someone which makes Sansa smile.

She takes a small bite, chewing it thoughtfully. A smile creeps onto her face and she takes another bite.

“Yummy.” She says, reaching to take another bite.

Sansa laughs, eyes looking up at Jon in time to see him do the same thing.

“Impressive.” He says, “I have a hard time getting her to try new things.”

Sansa smiles, taking a slice of pizza from her plate and taking a bite.

“I wonder where she gets that stubbornness from?” Sansa asks playfully. She doesn’t know why she is feeling so bold, but here she is unabashedly flirting with him.

Jon chuckles, “Yeah, I suppose she does get that from me.”

Sansa laughs, finishing off her pizza. She reaches for her water, trying to ignore the way Jon was studying her face. She liked the way it felt, him looking at her and she wasn’t going to ruin it by looking up.

“All done.” Raina tells them happily. “Can I play games now?”

Jon smiles, “yes we can since you ate so good we’ll play some games and see what prizes we can win.”

Raina claps her hands together excitedly and Jon cleans her face up with a napkin before he rises up from the booth. The little girl grabs Sansa’s hand and tugs her along smiling happily.

It was the most fun Sansa had in a long time. Playing games with Jon and Raina, watching both of them laugh. It really was a great night. She hated to leave them.

Raina gave her a big hug on the sidewalk and the little girl thanked her a dozen times for coming. When she ran back to Jon, Sansa’s eyes searched his face for a cue on what to do next.

_Was he expecting his own hug?_

Sansa shifted awkwardly on her feet and she waits to see what he’s going to do.

At their feet Raina is singing a silly little song to the stuffed penguin she’d gotten with all of her tickets, and it was the only sound other than her heart hammering against her ribs.

Jon took a step forward, a smile faint on his lips and he touches her arm softly, he leans in and ever so delicately and kisses her cheek. “Thanks for tonight.” He whispers.

Sansa nods, resisting the urge to grab the front of his T-shirt and pull him closer. “Any time.” She says, her voice sounding as flustered as she felt.

Jon nods, scooping Raina up in his arms and making her giggle. “Let’s get you home little wildling.”

“Drive safe.” Sansa calls over her shoulder as she climbs into her car.

 _Drive safe?_ She scoffs at herself. Gods, she sounded like an idiot.

Things were so jumbled inside her head and it was starting to get even more confusing.

Everything surrounding this whole situation felt blurred. The lines, her feelings, Jon’s feelings.

It wasn’t fair for her to even entertain this idea of them. Allowing herself to actually feel like a part of their little family, for wanting something like that so awfully. She hated herself for it.

Sansa realizes that she needs a distraction and she knows just the person to call.

Stopping at a red light Sansa pulls her cell out and scrolls through her contacts until she finds the name she’s looking for.

“ _Hello_?” The familiar voice says on the other end of the phone.

“Hey, Marge. How’s things in King’s Landing?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoy this Jonsa fic. I came up with the idea a couple of years ago and had found it on my old computer and had to continue it. I hadn’t planned on posting it until I completed some of their fics but I’ve been cranking out chapters and it seemed unfair to keep them to myself :)


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